Is the drive to manage long-term conditions in the community compatible with improving standards of care for those with inflammatory arthritis?

At the same time as the Government is pushing ahead with its agenda to manage long-term conditions in the community, standards of care have been published by the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA) in an attempt to improve and standardize the care of people with inflammatory arthritis. This raises the question of whether the needs and preferences of people with arthritis can be adequately met in a primary care setting. This paper looks at the evidence so far and discusses the possibilities for achieving ARMA's standards if arthritis care is managed in the community.